Why it works: Chicken and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Boiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the chicken
Dress the chicken and place it in a pot of hot water.
Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Cook for 20 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size and age of the chicken.
Serve
Serve with parsley, butter, and boiled ham or tongue.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Chicken + hamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,314 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks in the water.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, mellow flavour to the served chicken.
The step that matters
Reduce to a simmer. Vigorous boiling toughens the chicken's proteins and can leave the meat dry and stringy. A gentle simmer cooks it evenly and keeps it tender and juicy.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, ham):
- Thymefits better
- Garlicfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Celeryfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, ham. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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